How long does it take for a cashier's check to clear?
 

I'm really disappointed and kinda pissed that "Brecht Mini" is telling me I will have to wait 2 weeks after the car arrives for them to give me the my MINI because my physical address is outside the State and they need to wait for the check to clear.

I have a cashier's check, it's supposed to be as effective as a note of the bank, it guarantees funds for gods sake!:mad:

I'm selling my current car in a few days and can't wait 2 extra weeks to get my MINI because I will not have a car to drive, and my commute is a very long one!

I really don't know what to do, PENFED wont do wire transfers, so I'll try to talk to the dealer again when the car gets here. Penfed sent me this official check to replace the pre-approved draft, so I'm hoping they'll come to there senses and help me out knowing that I'm spending over 30K on this car and they are getting all their money at once! :no:

hahahahahaha. :mad: brecht mini is giving you a load of BS.

unfortunately i think each dealership (no matter what make) can have their own rules regarding pick-up for a car. its rather unfortunate that brecht mini is giving you a hard time. penfed check is good, brecht just isn't.

i hope things work out for you though. bad move for brecht to screw with a possibly loyal mini customer.

maybe they'll change their policy for you....or perhaps a call to the manager is in order.....

good luck.

I work at a bank. Tell them to process the check at their bank as a one-on-one deposit with it's own deposit slip. Tell them to do a deposit verification on the check so their back offices will call your issuing bank of the cashier's check and validate that it is a good check. All major banks will only hold that check a maximum of 4 business days, and if they get a deposit verification, then they know the check is good and the car can be released. Also tell them that a cashiers check is a legal instrument issued by your bank as a transfer of funds to the payee, the mini dealership and that those are guaranteed funds that cannot be stopped for any reason. I know there is a lot of cashier's check fraud out there so they are just trying to be safe. DO YOURSELF A FAVOR, GET THEIR ACCOUNT #, ROUTING # AND BANK INFORMATION AND WIRE TRANSFER THEM THE MONEY. AS LONG AS THE FUNDS ARE IN THEIR ACCOUNT THE NEXT DAY, THEY CANNOT BE RETURNED FOR ANY REASON. This will cost you about 40-50 dollars, but well worth the money. Hope this helps.

I forgot to tell you, PEN FED is a credit union and is not eligible for Federal Wire Transfers because they are a special non-profit type of institution and not governed by the Federal Reserve, therefore no wire transfers. have them make the check to you, put it in your account, go to Western Union, Wire the money and call it a day!

That is what I've been thinking, how can you start to screw with a customer that doesn't even have his car yet?... What kind of Manager should I talked with? I spoke with a finance person and she was not rude, but not to friendly aether, telling me that I would need to wait because my physical address is out of state and I'm using a P.O Box, the only thing I didn't specify is what kind of check I have, now I will be getting a cashiers check and since that is pretty much same as cash it would be kinda dumb to not let me drive off with my car! But I'm beginning to see trouble ahead with this dealer :sad:

Thanks for the good info, only thing about the Wire transfer is that my credit union "Pentagon Federal credit union" does not do wire transfers for car loans, they did offer to send the dealer a letter saying I was indeed approved for the amount but that was it ..:no:

you have all of the wrong ingredients. PO Box, out of state, etc., it would look to them as if you are trying to scam them and checks can be returned for 10 business days so I see their concern. It is just that you are probably that one in one thousand person in your situation which would appear to be the same as most scams these days. Try to wire the money anyway possible. Also, call PENFED and authorize them to talk to the MINI dealer. Get their # and extension, have the MINI dealer call PENFED at the general number listed online, ask for the person and get confirmation. I would accept that. You can also send loan paperwork to them as proof of the loan and the disbursement check from PENFED for the car.

You can try this too, but PENFED will probably only make the check out to the MINI dealer. It will be worth it in the end so just relax, and 2 weeks will go by fast.

I tried that already, they said the only thing they could do is to give me an "Official check" so I agree since I only had a pre approved draft, but looks like is not going to work :confused:

And well the problem is I'm about to sell my current car, I need a car to drive for 2 weeks now, everything was going good with this dealer until this crap...

Rent a kia spectra under your grandparents name if they will allow you, get a AAA discount (all old people have AAA), pay 12 dollars a day for it and call it quits. Credit unions have great rates, but they are a pain to deal with when it comes to loans!

I wouldn't stand for that. They can verify a cashier's check pretty easily as others have stated. I wrote a personal check for my Mini to the tune of $32k and drove off within 30 minutes and the check had my OLD address on it.

Keep the golden rule in mind... "If at first you don't succeed, go over their head!" Talk to the General Manager of the dealership and tell him that if he wants to retain the sale, he better straighten out his finance manager. Be prepared to go to another dealer in case he's a jerk too.

Be assertive, NOT AN *******! You will get much further. Simply call, ask for the general manager, do NOT tell them your name, keep simply asking for the GM Period!

It doesn't help the whole thing the faq that I currently leave in Mexico, I commute every day from Mexico to the US, the only MINI around San Diego is this so called Brecht Mini, next one is in Irvine if I'm not mistaken and I have a custom build baby, so I don't know if I can just go to another dealer and take my car there....

Wow, that whole thing sucks. I hope they can work it out with you. So, dumb question...I have a penfed check in hand - are you saying that I'm looking at the same kind of delay? :eek2:

Again your story just keeps making me feel worse and worse for you. I see why they are holding the check, it is because you are driving it out of the country. At that point, there is no turning around for them. Sorry man!

Yeah I know the whole Mexico thing makes things worse, and no weinerdog
you shouldn't have a problem with the check you have, their issue with me is that I don't have a physical address in California.. you should be good..

I drive far into San Diego every day and crossing the boarder by foot and jump on the train is not fun, believe me! :mad:

I don't suppose they have a loaner they could give you? There has to be something on the lot they could sacrifice for a couple of weeks. I guess that would still run into the same issue that led to this whole thing, but still. Ugh...with ours(presumably) just a few days away I feel your pain.

Mexico=no Loaner

I don't think they'll give me anything since I'm going into mexico every day, but what could I expect, they are a dealer, a Mini Dealer but still a dealer lol..

Thanks for your help guys! I'm going to keep on trying anyways...

Be Firm,,, but Nice...


the time will fly by...

Thx guys for ur support! I'll try my best in a few days .

So let me get this straight::confused:
1. You live in Mexico and your address is a P.O. box
2. You got a loan from a credit union that's closest branch is in Colorado
3. To get the loan from the credit union, you should really have something to do with the US military, since that is why that particular credit union was chartered.
4. You are going to drive the car into Mexico when you leave the dealer.

...and you can't understand why the dealer wants to hold the car until the check clears????:eek: :sly:

OK so lets get this really straight then.. :popcorn:

1. I'm an American citizen, my previous US addresses are easily researchable by doing a credit check, which they already did.
2. I currently work and have always worked in the States, this info is easily obtainable and they actually already have it.
3. The fact that I have an "Official Check" from Penfed means that I'm eligible to have an account with them.. Oh and by the way, I have a DoD Secret Clearance, you can guess the other part..
4. I can drive the car anywhere I want, because I'm paying for it, with a Cashiers check, that's the whole point of a cashiers check, they can find out if the check is valid by calling them, not to hard to do, is effective as a note of the bank.. is not a personal check... If they want to make it hard on the customer they can, and they are and they will, that's just them... When I got the car I currently drive, Mossy Nissan said the same thing for my "out of state Personal check", Smaller dealer "Pacific Nissan" said: Welcome customer with 15K on his pocket, we'll take your check and you can ride off with your car the same day....

So please don't make the mistake of thinking your more American or have more rights than me because you live in the other side of the Boarder...

Oh and to everyone else, thanks again for the help!:thumbsup:
I'll no more when my Baby gets to the dealer :wink:

By the way.. I meant no disrespect, but I just see no point of posting something like that on a forum where you know we are all a little bit to crazy about out MINIs and I'm just trying to find a solution to my problem.. please don't be a jerk about it.

Thanks, and my apologies again!